Reeling in the Year - Boards in 2018
Happy New Year everyone! What a year 2018 was, packed with major news stories both at home and overseas, sporting success, and incredible accomplishments by Boardsies across the site. Here are some of the major events that got people talking, number one singles, and other bits and pieces throughout the year.

One amazing piece of creativity was highlighted in the Nintendo forum early in the year. witnessmenow created a Zelda chest that lights up and plays the melody when you open it, and showed off how to make it if you are interested in finding out more.

In January, we lost Dolores O'Riordan at the age of 46. It was later found that she died by drowning due to alcohol intoxication. Naomi Parker, aka Rosie the Riveter, and the Swedish founder of the Ikea furniture chain, Ingvar Kamprad, also passed away at the end of January.

The end of the month also brought the arrival of the first storm in Storm Georgina. Over Stateside, they were more concerned with the possibility of a tsunami after a 7.9-magnitude earthquake struck off the coast of Alaska.

There was the small matter of the Six Nations, and what a Six Nations it turned out to be. One of the highlights of the entire tournament came in the opening game with Johnny Sexton stepping up and nailing a massive drop goal to set Ireland on the way to winning a Grand Slam: https://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/show...#post106044382

In Boards related news, we saw the launch of the VR forum, while the 4x4 & Tractors & Diggers & Plant was renamed and repurposed as Haulage & Heavy Machinery to encapsulate all things big! One interesting project from the Cycling forum was riddlinrussell's Greenway Map of Ireland, highlighting all officially completed, planned or under construction, and proposed greenways. Boards also celebrated the 20th anniversary of its first ever post!

A former RTE producer was sentenced to 18 months in prison after he admitted to grooming a 13-year-old girl. He was arrested after being confronted by Predator Exposure, a self-styled paedophile hunter group, in a sting operation: https://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/show...p?t=2057849776

The Music forum has entertained itself, and taught people something new on a regular basis, with a thread dedicated to surprising songs that were a group's or artist's highest charting singles. There are some unexpected success stories to be found here: https://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/show...p?t=2057850655

There was a feel-good story posted to After Hours that rekindles your faith in humanity. Colleagues of a man in Germany raised more than 3,000 hours of overtime between them so that he could stay off work to care for his son who had undergone life-saving chemotherapy: https://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/show...#post106403630

Tension between Russia and international leaders escalated in March after a former Russian military intelligence officer who acted as a double agent for the UK's intelligence services and his daughter were poisoned: https://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/show...p?t=2057851642

We learned a lot more about the control of information and how sometimes we don't have as much control as we might imagine thanks to the Cambridge Analytica scandal. While we can't find a thread dedicated to this news, there was some chatter about it and things like fake news in After Hours: https://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/show...p?t=2057854602

The end of March saw the conclusion of the Belfast rape trial. Paddy Jackson and Stuart Olding were found not guilty of raping a 19-year-old student in June 2016, while Blane McIlroy was acquitted on the charge of exposure, and Rory Harrison was acquitted of charges of perverting the course of public justice, and withholding information.

Earth received a wake-up call in April as a large asteroid managed to sneak up on us. It was the largest known asteroid to ever pass that close to Earth, as well as the Moon, in observational history, yet was only discovered the day before it passed by: https://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/show...p?t=2057862774

While Liverpool fans should have been able to enjoy their Champions League journey last year, it was marred by violence after the semi-final against Roma. Irishman Sean Cox was left fighting for his life after being attacked by two men in their mid 20s: https://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/show...#post106829406

Ireland started the month on a health-focused note with the introduction of a sugar tax, which generated some conversation as people wondered what tax might be next, or how it would impact their drink of choice.

Ed Sheeran's stadium tour, arguably one of the biggest music events to happen in Ireland last year, kicked off in May. There were some issues with the clampdown on touting, which resulted in some people getting caught out when attending the gig without the person they were registered to: https://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/show...#post106873651

In sporting news, Leinster sealed their fourth Champions Cup title with victory over Racing 92 before doing the double by besting Scarlets in the Pro 14 final to add another notch in a great year for Irish rugby.

One of the most talked about topics of the year and something that will continue to be discussed was the 8th Amendment Referendum. On May 26th, the results came in with the overwhelming majority to repeal the 8th Amendment: https://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/show...#post107104718

The Soccer World Cup was the major sporting event of the month and a dedicated World Cup forum was set up as a result: https://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/forumdisplay.php?f=1838 . France lifted the trophy, but there were many hoping for Croatia to pull off a plucky underdog story.

One man learned that you should show up to your flight's gate at a reasonable time, even if it's a Ryanair flight. After missing his flight to Amsterdam, he managed to get onto the tarmac and tried to run towards the plane: https://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/show...p?t=2057914805

Again, there was plenty of chatter about Brexit throughout the year, but some issues came to a head in November with debate over the border: https://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/show...#post108514375 . The Taoiseach later announced that the proposed deal would be put to a vote in Dail Eireann.